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Thoughtful captaincy, disciplined bowling, excellent out-cricket and steady, level-headed batting. With those four elements, the Giovonte Depeiza-led West Indies bounced back from defeat with a much-needed second round 7–wicket win over Scotland in the ICC Under-19 World Cup yesterday.
Playing in Group D at the Conaree Sports Club, in Basseterre, St Kitts, the home side, beaten by six wickets by Australia in their opener, upped their game to dismiss the Scots for a mere 95 off just 35.1 overs. And then, with opener Shaqkere Parris leading the way with 26 off 29 balls, their top-order batsmen steered them safely to victory, reaching the modest target for the loss of just three wickets in only 19.4 overs.
Sankar took 3/17 to take Man-of-the-Match honours as West Indies won by seven wickets.
(via CWI Media)
Rivaldo Clarke, who had contributed an important 37 against Australia, failed to get on top of the unorthodox left-arm spin of Scotland skipper Charlie Peet (1/15) and fell cheaply. So too opener Matthew Nandu (8 off 25), first man out at 37 for 1.
But despite Peet’s reliance on his spinners, Parris steered his team exactly halfway to the target before he departed with 48 more needed. Two other spinners, Jack Jarvis and Oliver Davidson each ended with 1/19.
Focused, Teddy Bishop (23 off 27) contrived to stick around long enough to blast Davidson back over his head in the 20th over to see the WI home.
Deputising for the under-the-weather Ackeem Auguste, Depeiza had won the toss and opted to give the opposition first strike on a pitch that offered some help to the spinners. It proved to be the right decision because within nine overs, T&T pacer Shiva Sankar (3/17) had struck three times to put the visitors in the unsteady position of 29 for 3.
Depeiza deputised for Auguste today in U-19 Cricket World Cup action against Scotland.
(via CWI Media)
Opener Davidson (43 off 93 balls, 4 x 4) threatened to carry his bat through the innings. But Sankar pounced on his drive at deep cover and, as the left-hander changed his mind about attempting a second run, rifled a throw to the non-striker’s end to find him short of his ground.
It confirmed the Man-of-the-Match award for the quickie who, placed on the precise blade of grass by his skipper, also swallowed a catch on the midwicket boundary off Anderson Mahase (2/16) to make the score 42 for 4.
But this was far from being a one-man show.
With Depeiza giving the spin twins Mahase and Onaje Amory (2/26) extended spells once the first powerplay had ended, the Scots could make little real headway. And every time they tried to break the shackles, the West Indies fielding thwarted them.
Wicketkeeper Clarke made a nifty take down the leg-side off an Amory off-break and contrived to whip off the bails before the counter-attacking Muhaymen Majeed could get his foot back behind the line. Nandu ran back into the midwicket region to get under and hold on to a skier.
(Copyright CWI Media)
Bishop fumbled an edge at slip off the right-handed Lyle Robertson and then flung himself full length to his right to grab the rebound. He then dropped low to his right to take another sharp catch offered by the left-handed Peet.
And at 83 for 9, Jordan Johnson leapt high at short extra-cover to pull down a lofted Sean Fischer-Keogh drive.
On Sunday, the Bangladesh last-wicket pair had taken their team’s score from 51 for 9 to 97 against England. Sankar’s accuracy ensured that there would be no such heroics for Scotland.
It also meant there would be no real challenge for essentially the same batting line-up—minus top scorer Auguste—that had put on 169 against Australia last week.
Another clinical performance and a convincing win in their last group encounter against top-of-the-table Sri Lanka on Friday 21 January will take the WI into the knockout round—especially if the Scots can get past Australia at the same time.
(Copyright Getty Images)
It seems a big if but the Aussies only managed 175 against Sri Lanka today to lose by 4 wickets and the Scots got to 178 in their losing effort against the same opposition…
(Match summary)
Toss: West Indies
Scotland: 95 (Oliver Davidson 43; Shiva Sankar 3/17, Anderson Mahase 2/16, Onaje Amory 2/26)
West Indies: 96 for 3 (Shaqkere Parris 26, Teddy Bishop 23; Charlie Peet 1/15, Jack Jarvis 1/19, Oliver Davidson 1/19)
Man-of-the-Match: Shiva Sankar
Result: West Indies win by 7 wkts
Points: WI 2 , Scotland 0
GROUP D Table
P W L D NRR
Sri Lanka 2 2 0 0 1.010
West Indies 2 1 1 0 1.009
Australia 2 1 1 0 -0.339
Scotland 2 0 2 0 -0.777
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Earl Best taught cricket, French, football and Spanish at QRC for many years and has written consistently for the Tapia and the Trinidad and Tobago Review since the 1970’s.
He is also a former sports editor at the Trinidad Guardian and the Trinidad Express and is now a senior lecturer in Journalism at COSTAATT.
